KUCHING: Bursa Malaysia Bhd (Bursa Malaysia) earnings for the third quarter of 2014 (3Q14) rose 14.88 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM53.09 million from RM46.21 million in 3Q13.
The stock exchange in a filing yesterday said its net profit for the nine months ended September increased 4.2 per cent y-o-y to RM145.09 million compared with RM139.23 million for nine months ended September 2013.
Bursa Malaysia added its turnover for 3Q14 grew 7.2 per cent y-o-y to RM128.96 million while revenue for nine months ended September gained 3.94 per cent y-o-y to RM375.28 million.
In its notes accompanying the release of its 3Q14 financial results, Bursa Malaysia attributed the higher profit due to higher trading value on the securities market compared with 3Q13.
Chief executive officer Datuk Tajuddin Atan said in a statement that despite the softer market globally, Bursa Malaysia saw higher domestic participation, especially in the retail segment, which in turn contributed to the higher trading revenue.
“On our part, there are several initiatives which to be rolled out in the remaining quarter of 2014, amongst which is continuity in building the depth and diversity of offerings, as well as retail outreach programmes, both locally and in Asean. We are also on track to rolling out our Environmental, Social and Governance Index (ESG) by this year,” he added.
Meanwhile, higher revenue for the securities market was due to higher trading revenue, listing and issuer services as well as charges of market data to participating organisations.
For the trading segment, Bursa Malaysia said its income increased by 11 per cent y-o-y to RM64.2 million supported by higher average daily value of securities traded and higher effective clearing fee rate as a result of higher retail participation in the securities market.
For 3Q14, the stock exchange holding company observed the average daily trading value rose to RM2.3 billion against RM2.08 billion in 3Q13, which represented an increase of 11 per cent.
For the same period, It noted the average daily trading volume also increased 59 per cent y-o-y to 2.77 billion contracts compared with 1.74 billion contracts.
As for the derivatives market, Bursa Malaysia said the segment recorded a profit RM10.3 million in 3Q14, an increase of one per cent compared with RM10.2 million in 3Q13 due to higher number of contracts traded.
Bursa Malaysia observed that its daily average contracts for the derivatives market in 3Q14 increased 18 per cent y-o-y to 54,019 contracts against 45,700 contracts in 3Q13.
Looking ahead, Bursa Malaysia said,”Against this backdrop,we expect investor sentiment for equities to remain positive.
“Crucial to the growth of our market in the current economy are our outreach activities as well as the ability to provide diversified and investable products to existing and potential investors.
“The challenges and uncertainties which affect investor sentiment and appetite on the equities market will continue to affect the Index futures (FKLI) volumes, while the present uncertainty in (crude) palm oil prices will influence the volumes traded for crude palm oil futures (FCPO) contracts.
“Overall,our efforts to deepen our distribution channels, promote our products and widen our range of derivatives offerings are expected to improve visibility and sustain trade volumes for the remainder of the year,” it said.
Additionally, the stock exchange holding company said its Islamic capital market continued to register positive growth.
Bursa Malaysia noted the need for Shariah-compliant products is expected to increase further due to the demand from Islamic funds as well as those funds dedicated to ethical investments.
It believed wider usage of the murabahah principle is expected to spur greater utilisation of its commodity trading platform, Bursa Suq Al-Sila’ (BSAS).